On the Intentional Fallacy March 19, 2008: Many of the comments in response to my most recent post revolved around the question of authorial intention and its importance or even relevance to the reading and interpretation of a work of verbal art, so I have decided to explore the question in greater depth. This post incorporates some of my prior responses to comments on that earlier post [...] by Reginald Shepherd

This is just to say… March 19, 2008: A motorist is pulled over by a policeman, "You ignored that stop sign." "But I slowed down!", the driver protests. Hearing this, the cop starts whacking the driver with a night stick while intoning, “Do you want me to stop, or do you want me to slow down?" Poems are like musical scores, their notations to be read the same way each time by each [...] by Linh Dinh

A Poetry of Pigs March 19, 2008: Ada Limon likens poets to soothsayers. But poets seem to me no wiser or more visionary than anyone else—possibly the opposite is closer to the truth. Poems in general aren’t so much wise or fortune-telling things as they are (some of them; no generalization does justice to the art) providers of concise moments of clarity. T.E. Hulme, in “A [...] by Daisy Fried

Give Me Some March 18, 2008: Rimbaud asked, “Why not toys and incense already?" Play and the sacred are the 69 of poetry, its yin and yang, but to really play, one must be willing to get dirty, and nothing is messier than the World Wide Waste, a vast mud pit for poets to frolic in. (more...) by Linh Dinh

Ireland, Poetry & The Good Art of Being Alone March 17, 2008: I woke up this morning thinking of the Irish. In midtown Manhattan the parade barreled through and people wore their green sweaters and talked about their heritage and well, drank some. Mainly, I thought of cultures that are inherently linked to poetry, where the legacy of poetry is something highly celebrated, is viewed as an essential commodity. [...] by Ada Limón

The Poetics of Space? March 17, 2008: When asked about why her poems look the way they do ("The Violinist at the Window, 1918," from the March 2008 question-and-answer issue of Poetry in particular, which we had to print on a fold-out page), Jorie Graham remarked that she is "working with lines that acquire momentum as they move down the page, yet need to carry that momentum across [...] by Don Share

Half Rigid Half Verse March 15, 2008: A few years ago, I found myself strolling down a narrow, car-free street in Bury Saint Edmunds, a gorgeous little town in Suffolk, England. Admiring its houses’ irregular roof line, I realized that although the human mind needs patterns to orient itself, it’s also thrilled by the sabotage of these patterns, that the coexistence of order and [...] by Linh Dinh

The Ides of March: Soothsayer=Poet* March 15, 2008: Speaking of art & politics: CAESAR What man is that? BRUTUS A soothsayer bids you beware the ides of March. CAESAR Set him before me; let me see his face. CASSIUS Fellow, come from the throng; look upon Caesar. CAESAR What say'st thou to me now? Speak once again. SOOTHSAYER Beware the ides of March. CAESAR He is a dreamer; let us leave him: [...] by Ada Limón

Art, History, Politics: A Short Note March 14, 2008: Ironically enough, given the topic of my last post, I have been sidelined from this blog for a while because I've been painfully sick wth what my oncologist thinks (but doesn't know) are new chemotherapy side effects. But I am better now, and I am back. Happy reading. Politics, history, biography all inform and sometimes even deform art (style can [...] by Reginald Shepherd

Found Theory March 14, 2008: The Frame From Gulliver's Travels, "A Voyage to Laputa, etc.," at the Grand Academy of Lagado : "The first professor I saw was in a very large room, with forty pupils about him...Every one knew how laborious the usual method is of attaining to arts and sciences; whereas by his contrivance the most ignorant person at a reasonable charge, and with [...] by Daisy Fried